The Battle of Reason and Love, and the Stages of the Path

An explanation of love's ascents, and the hiding of the veiled secret: reason is like a lamp in the darkness of the self, while love is the sun. It has been said that when the truths appear, the laws fall away, though this does not mean what is imagined. So reflect and understand. Reason tells love: you are insane. Love tells reason: you are a stranger to all this. Reason says: go and join the people of discernment. Love says: flee from your own discernment. Love says: flee from your own discernment. Love says: come and lose your mind. Reason says: do not disgrace yourself; do not turn into a madman driven by passion. Love says: I am happy in my passion, free of the worries that knowledge brings. Reason says: guard yourself against troubles. Love says: be a shield for the arrows of sorrow. Reason says: it is wrong to find pleasure in this grief. Love says: being denied is the very pleasure we seek. Reason says: your heart will turn to blood. Love says: this is exactly our way. Reason says: do not wander into disgrace. Love says: a good name is a real man's shame. Reason says: there is nothing but honor and reputation. Love says: what are honor and reputation, anyway? Reason says: run from the blame of others. Love says: spur your horse straight toward that blame. Reason says: do not be so reckless; do not act with such quickness and daring. Love says: go and be fearless; be swift and ready in the face of blame. Reason says: be patient, do not rush. Love says: listen to the call, 'Hasten.' Reason says: hold yourself together. Love says: go and weep your heart out. Reason says: I am the guide toward the Truth. Love says: I am beyond all directions. Reason says: listen for the day faces turn radiant. Love says: walk into the blackening of the face. Reason speaks of the highest paradise. Love says: do not look at loss at all. Reason says: go, do not stop here. Love says: such things do not concern us. Reason says: the hidden secrets should not be spoken before every unworthy person. Love says: go, we have no fear; we do not worry about being pure or impure. Reason says: the way of servitude. Love says: kingship and blessedness. Reason talks of unbelief and faith. Love tears out the roots of both unbelief and faith. Love's frenzy has stolen my rest and calm; when would the manners of reason ever serve me? The fever of mad passion fills my head; when does the counsel of reason fit me now? Under the splendor of love's royal command, what room is there for reason at love's court? When love enters through the door of the heart, reason gathers its belongings and leaves. Though reason was present at the dawn of creation, it was love that showed it the way there. Though at first the Truth had chosen reason, this robe of honor was hidden from it. Go and recite 'I was a hidden treasure,' so this meaning may be unveiled to you. For out of the perfection of His love for the beauty of His own essence, He shone forth in His names and attributes. This manifestation was the ray of 'I loved'; its final purpose was the knowledge of existence. Without love, how could creation exist? How would beauty, or anything that is, ever have come to be? It has come down: 'The first of creation was love'; so it is fitting, if it springs from the world of command. Reason is like a candle, and love is the sun; in the presence of the sun, how can a candle give light? A candle lights up the night's gathering with its glow, but when the sun rises, it wipes the night away. Do not display the feeble candle of reason before love's sun that lights the world and kindles the soul. Do not flee from one error straight into another; do not throw away your dignity any further than this. Holding up a candle against the sun, what could it bring but boundless shame?